ANU University House Reopening

The Australian National University is having an open Community Day on Saturday 15 August, commemorating 80 years. Registering for the event comes with the chance to win a two-night stay at the restored historic ANU University House, with dinner for two. 

The reopening of University House, marks a revival of the institution's fortunes, academic & financial. The lack of a venue where staff at all levels could freely discuss issues across the institution, contributed to governance problems. At times a leader can only be told something is a bad idea in an informal setting. Equally there is the chance to tell them what will work.

Marghanita da Cruz & Tom Worthington
at the ANU Celebration of Giving, in the
Great Hall of University House.
Photo by Adam da Cruz, 24 November 2014

University House was extensively damaged in a hailstorm in January 2020. It was not so much the loss of the great hall, or other formal areas which impeded consultation with staff, as the Fellows Bar & Fellows Garden outside. Here in the twlight, staff and graduate students would meet after work. While each table tended to be devoted to a discipline, there was interaction between them. 

Improving Governance in Australian Universities

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has issued a report on Australian National University Financial Management (4 June 2026). The findings (five) and recommendations (three) are remarkably short and readable. This contains useful advice for any Australian university. ANAO found the university's income is not keeping up with its costs, but there is no intimidate financial crisis. It suggests not relying on an increase in international student numbers. ANAO suggest proposals for change come with a business case. 

In my submission to the Higher Education Review, I suggested no radical change was needed to how universities and vocational institutes do educaion in Australia. However universities need to be reminded their primary mission is to provide educated professionals for the workplace, and applied research for industry, supported by fundamental research. Addressing areas of need require universities to fund some programs and defend others, adding and shedding staff. Australia can  double down on the use of online, blended, and mobile learning. This will not only provide a cost effective way to meet domestic needs, but also open up a new international market. AI needs to be incorporated in learning, but as an enabler, & a skill for graduates, but this required no fundamental change to the system.

No Governance Crisis in Australian Universities

Julie Hare writes "It's a governance crisis, but why now precisely?" (The Hare Report, May 31, 2026). But is there a governance crisis? Some universities have very public problems, but only a tiny number. Other public & private organisations fail every day. Companies go into receivership, local government bodies are taken over by an administrator, public officials & private individuals are investigated for corruption. Provided these problems are addressed, no one says there is a "governance problem", just ordinary everyday hubris, incompetence and greed. Universities in Australia are almost all public non profit institutions, so more subject to public scrutiny. Perhaps that is why there seem to be more problems: they are more visible and we are expecting more of universities. 

In the mid 1990s, I looked at how Cambridge University did innovation (Cambridge live from a Double Decker Bus, 1999). In the process I talked to students, staff & leadership. One thing which struck me was that people who worked for the same institution had very different views, & in some cases a deep dislike for, each other. However, the place still worked, perhaps because, not dispute, this.

Australian universities had international students before the Dawkins reforms. However, these were on government scholarships, invited to Australia as part of a cold war hearts and minds campaign. More recently international students became a revenue source for universities, as well as a source of shovel ready migrants. This proved useful for government, offloading some cost of universities onto international students & providing a source of quality overseas workers. Universities failed to treat the international student fees as a windfall and bank the money for future need. 

There is no way to create a governing body for a university which will create harmony & perfect decision making. Be it federal cabinet, a company, or the bowls club, there is always conflict. Traditionally the VC ran the university, & the council grumbled about it. If you have a more active council, there will be more conflict. There is no solution, as such, except to select good people. But more staff & student representatives would be a start. 

COVID-19 and government controls on international student numbers have been challenges to universities. However, these will seem minor compared to shocks to come. In 2016 I warned that conflict in the region could result in most international students having to leave Australia. AI is challenging the way research and educaion are done. This may see the potential of online educaion, to be finally realized. These will require university councils to make difficult, rapid, existential decisions. 

Governing China’s Neighbourhoods

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra, where a panel is discussing Luigi Tomba's book "The Government Next Door: Neighborhood Politics in Urban China", winner of the 2016 Joseph Levenson book prize. The book touches on the role of education in public employment: "The capital's employees in public administration units (shiye danwen), who today are recruited on the basis of examination and educational credentials, saw their average salaries more than double in the 1995-2000 period (increasing by 133 percent)." (page 99). 

Luigi described how he started his research for the book by going to middle class areas, knocking on doors in Beijing and talking to the residents. Many were public employees who had been able to acquire property with a government subsidy. These were therefore no a harbinger of western style democracy, but a group who would support the existing government structure. Even when protesting about local matters, the residents use the same rhetoric as the central government, so as not to be a threat to its legitimacy. In regional areas unemployed former state workers still used the same language to express grievances in. He suggests there are different "arenas of contention" set by government for different groups (working and middle class) to have different scope to discuss grievances. Luigi points out that even one group, such as the "middle class" has many subgroups. He suggested that removing the gates on gated communities was a major undertaking. Also he suggested that the Chinese Government could adapt to any  property bubble and contain possible social unrest resulting. Luigi described the construction of new communities without gates and walls as a "game changer", with more accountability. Government may have to take back some functions from the companies, such as local security.

Luigi gave a brief but fascinating description of the hybrid system where those in private apartments select and pay a company to maintain the buildings (as a body corporate does in Australia). However, the home owners have little say in what the company does and it carries out policies of the government. One interesting question is how access to the Internet and smartphones in particular may change this. Luigi briefly mentions broadband (page 113), but not smartphones. In answer to a question he commented it was not possible to sell an apartment in Beijing  now without broadband and the citizens may have several smartphones, which are used for day to day and intellectual discussions.

Luigi expressed some frustration that the book cannot be orderd through Amazon.com in China (but a Chinese edition is in production). The book is available from Asia Bookroom in Canberra.